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Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Poll result: What is the main reason why Indian community in Malaysia not doing well?

.It is an irony that the day I am closing the poll, I am reading about the downfall of the “Deva Gang” in the newspapers. It is an irony indeed.

I wish to thank all who participated on the short poll especially those who added the link in their blog. I have conveyed the result to my friend and he appreciated your time spent on the poll.

Yes, I agree that it may not be an accurate poll as was pointed by Mack when he commented on Lim Kit Siang poll but it was a good way to gauge the reader’s opinion on the matter as rightly pointed out by Lim Kit Siang in his response to Mack.

The final result from 34 respondents is as follows:-

I must say that I was in for a rude surprise. I had never expected that lack of motivation and focus was the main course of the Indian community in Malaysia not doing well. However, as I reflected back on people I know, this does not seem far from the truth. There are other factors of course, such as insufficient support from the community, lack of avenues for people to be motivated, etc but this is present in every community as well in Malaysia. It is not a new issue. This is something the community needs to work on it because being demoralized and not being motivated to make great achievements can at times be tragic.

I must agree on the other result of the poll where there is indeed less unity among the community. I mean how well we get along with others in the Indian community? South Indians have their own way (that too sometimes is limited to Indian Pubs), the Punjabis on the other side, North Indians on another, etc. The unity seems is limited within family but this too seems lacking these days. One fight in the family and you has a major split among family members for years.

As far as the lack of support from the government / political parties, well, I have long abandoned the hope for such support. I could be bias here - from own experience with MIC twice in my life have led me to think twice whether political party is indeed is contributing to support the Indian community.

However, not all is loss for the community (Indian or otherwise) to start picking the pieces and start working on improving the stature among other communities in Malaysia. Forget about political parties if you may.

Let’s get started on little things such as unity and being motivating others – after all, it is something within our control..